The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) report assessing multifamily lending maintains last year, 2,215 lenders provided $487.3 billion in new mortgages for apartment buildings with five or more units.
The annual analysis showed the $487.3 billion in volume represents a 35 percent increase from 2020’s number of $359.7 billion, with 32 percent of the active lenders making five or fewer multifamily loans over the course of the year.
MBA Commercial Real Estate Research Vice President Jamie Woodwell said 2021 experienced a record level of borrowing and lending backed by multifamily rental properties.
“Strong property fundamentals, rising values, and low interest rates all contributed to the jump in volume, as well as strong demand from every capital source to make multifamily loans,” Woodwell said. “The mix of lenders in the data show the depth and diversity of the apartment lending market.”
The MBA indicated the report stems from surveys of the larger multifamily lenders and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data covering multifamily loans made by many smaller lenders.
“The first half of 2022 saw continued lending momentum, but significant changes in equity and debt markets – due to higher interest rates and economic uncertainty – have affected the demand and supply of debt,” Woodwell said. “Our latest forecast anticipates that 2022 volume will fall 10 percent from last year’s record levels.”
The report includes a breakout of 2021 multifamily lending volume by investor group, a listing of 2,215 lenders who made multifamily loans last year, and a listing of metropolitan areas and the volume of very-small loans made in each in 2021.